000000 Idents

I have just received some images from a contact which are very interesting. They all have the office ident 000000 which was last used at Trafalgar Square/William IV Street office in July 2012. The images may be seen on the Stamp Magazine website under Forum and Post and Go/Faststamps.

The examples appear, from postmarks, to have been posted in Bideford/Exeter/Devon area and dated 29 November 2012. They routed to the Heathrow World Distribution Centre (HWDC) and processed on IMP3. HWDC processing was as expected.

However, there are some major irregularities in the font used and the introduction of a new rate "Worldwide upto 30g" rate.

Images and full story may be found at: www.sites.google.com/site/pmechuk/

I have made contact with a few others and had replies suggesting that the items are very likely forgeries. If you have similar examples, please email me at pmechuk@gmail.com.

Apologies, I am having some problems uploading pictures to my blog site at the moment.

Post and Go - Hytech Releases 

Recent weeks has seen some new developments regarding the Hytech kiosks. In October we saw the release of Perth 2012 Machins and Flags. The BPMA is to receive a kiosk on the 3 December and now we learn that a Pop Up Post Office has appeared at Camden Market with two new Hytechs - A3 and A4.

The worrying thing is the lack of information being released as to these new developments that could result in a few people who happen to be in the right place at the wrong time making a killing on ebay by overcharging collectors.

Autumn Stampex 2012 saw session numbers from circa 10 to around 500 on the faststamps produced at that show. Perth 2012 saw the highest session number around the 700-750 mark. This shows that the demand is there for these products, yet the collector has to rely on dealers or being there to get examples. This sort of material should be available through the Philatelic Bureau.

Already, there are suggestions that Royal Mail is seeing the Wincors and the Hytech "specials" as cashcows and that some collectors are threatening to stop purchasing the "specials".

Clapham Common and Old Street

Over the Summer of 2012, three additional kiosks have appeared at these offices - one at Clapham Common  (005008) and two at Old Street (028003). I visited these offices on the 26th and 28th September respectively to obtain examples of all three kiosks. These are illustrated here.

Clapham Common 

This office is at 161-163 Clapham High Street SW4 7ST. The closest underground station is Clapham Common.

Old Street

Practically on the door of Old Street underground station, this office is at 205 Old Street EC1V 9QN. The station is out of shot to the right in this view and is accessed by a slope. This office was refurbished in July 2012 opening up the part of the office to the left of the entrance. The order of the kiosk are 2, 1, 3 and 4 from the front of the office.

Items from kiosks 3 and 4 are illustrated below.

Autumn Stampex Part 2

I managed another visit to Stampex today for the release of the Cattle faststamps. Cover was arranged and off I went with my first stop being William IV Street/Trafalgar Square (015010). Kiosks 1 and 2 were vending sheep and 3 and 4 the cattle stamps. A set from kiosk 3 was purchased and put onto FDC (which was subsequently posted at Stampex). Individual examples from each kiosk were purchased. 

Trafalgar Square Kiosk 3 (28/9/12)

Kiosk 4 has been producing a variety on the receipt were the address is on a single line and in lower case text.

Trafalgar Square receipt from 26/9/12. This format was also seen on the 28th.

Next stop was Aldwych (008010). There  was the suggestion on a blog that a third kiosk may have been installed. I can definitely state that there are still two kiosks at this office vending cattle stamps.

Back to Charing Cross underground and the Northern line to Euston then change to the Bank branch to Angel and the Design Centre. I arrived around 12.30 and the Royal Mail stand was quieter than it was on the morning of the first day but it was still doing good business.

Kiosk A1 was set up to just sell the cattle stamps while A2 was vending both jubilee flags and cattle. The cattle stamps were also available from B1 and B2 from the counter. I purchased examples from all four kiosks and prepared a cover using stamps from A2.

Kiosk B1 at Stampex (28/9/12)

The presentation packs were also available. The stamps have the data string A9NL12 C2-051840-06.

Final stop was Old Street (028003) where the same blog reported that two more kiosks were due at the end of July. This office has undergone quite a make over giving it a more spacious layout by removing some office space. There are four kiosks numbered 2, 1, 3 and 4. Kiosk 2 was out of order during my visit but other three were vending the cattle stamps.

 Old Street Kiosk 3 (28/9/12)

Old Street Kiosk 4 (28/9/12)

In the last Stampex  blog entry, I mentioned the number of receipts issued for an order. As well as the receipt for the overall order, receipts were produced for each of the collector’s strip and another for the card payment. All but the card payment receipt are illustrated here.

Finally an example of the flag stamp from the new kiosk (number 3) at Clapham on the 26th September with the associated receipt.

Autumn Stampex 2012 – The First Day

Autumn Stampex opened at 11.20 a.m. on the 26^th of September. The weather was slightly overcast. The big news for GB and ATM collectors is the presence of two new kiosks from Hytec. In addition, two further kiosks are in the back of the stand to run off pre-ordered faststamps. 

The programme of releases during the show include Flag fastsamps with and without the Jubilee overprint, Pig fastamps for the first two days and the new Cattle faststamps from Friday 28^th to close of show. All of the faststamps will have a new office ident and machine ident. Thursday 29^th sees yet another Olympic minisheet.

For this show, the Royal Mail stand is up one level and at the back of the hall. I suspect it is to encourage people beyond the entrance of the fair. Most of the early visitors seemed to be heading there to access the Hytecs or fill the gaps in their collections from the main part of the RM stand.

My target was the Hytecs. However, there were teething problems. A check on one kiosk threw up a little error on the “Europe up to 40g” which required a last minute reprogramming before we were allowed access to the machines. It originally read “up tp”. This change then lead to problems getting the machines working with a number of re-boots required which delayed things for 20-30 minutes. This was followed by printer error messages every so often requiring the engineer to open the units.

Kiosk A2

Kiosk A1

Visible inside the unit were three printers in the order stamp, receipt and stamp. From the angle that I viewed the “works” I could not see much more than the printers and what could be a power supply unit. I also noticed a toy racing car and suggested that they had done away with the conventional bus system and replaced it with a “high speed racer”. It didn’t go down well. (A2 is the closed kiosk and A1 is open).

From what was being said, there were also similar problems with the backroom kiosks and the engineer was making regular trips back and forward.

Unfortunately, the reflections on the screens make it difficult to photograph the text.

Flags Kiosk A1

Pigs Kiosk A1

Flags Kiosk A2

Pigs Kiosk A2

Both public machines were set up to deliver either the flags or the pigs. Kiosk A1 was not producing flags with the Jubilee print while Kiosk A2 plus the two in the back were. It should be noted that the backroom kiosks (B1 and B2) were only being used to produce the overprinted flags to keep up with the orders (circa 1.30p.m.).

 Flags Kiosk B1

Flags Kiosk B2

As previously reported on the Norphil blog site and the postagelabelsuk web site, a new format for the office ident and kiosk ident is being employed on these kiosks.

A9GB12 A2-000026-01

A9GB12 is the “office” ident currently in use. The significance of the first A is unknown. The 9 signifies September, GB is Britain and 12 is the year 2012.

A2 is the kiosk identifier. A signifies that the kiosk is accessible to the public and the 2 identifies the kiosk.

000026-01 is the session number and the transaction number as with the Wincors and previous Hytec issues at Stampex.

I also must apologise for the quality of the images presented here. Usually I scan the faststamps before uploading but this time I used a digital camera at the show before applying the stamps to cover. I will be including scans of the receipts and upload the material shortly.

I hope to revisit this show on the 28^th and I will try to add a few more images of the units and screens.